Hey people, how's everything been, I hope we've all had a chance to enjoy ourselves while I was gone, because I know I have. Man there's nothing like relaxing and reading a good... book...-eh wait, what am I saying?
No but seriously people, I have just discovered something, that James Patterson is my all favorite author in the world. I mean I really do love, and I do mean love, his work. Suspense, action, thrills, drama, his works have got everything.
So, going back to the story, I thank everyone who has put some commitment into actually reviewing my story. I had almost gotten to 150 reviews, but sadly the journey was curtailed and the review count stopped at 148 reviews. Man I was a bit irked about that but I let go, so I just wanted to say, I am really thankful of everyone... and you'd better appreciate it... or else. And here's something to think about:
"For humans, power is privilege whereas intelligence is a right, so never be afraid to use it "~ My life's motto
So anyway, I'll get on with the story, you guys rock.
Enjoy, it would make me feel better if you did.
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His hand swayed over the black scuff on his window sill and Naruto pulled back, remembering that he wasn't supposed to touch it, it was evidence. The moonlit sky cast a watchful eye over his apartment, the milky glow flowing in through his window. The lights were off. He folded his arms and narrowed his eyes, staring intensely at the black mark that was so suspiciously left at his sill.
The same pattern as before, as in the hospital. It appeared that the same shoe print had been left in his house as well as the hospital room. He quirked an eyebrow, what was this supposed to mean.
A few things came to mind, it could be evidence for one... while on the other hand it could have been bait as well. "Shino", or so he made himself to be perceived as, left the hospital via window, leaving a suspicious shoe print on the window sill in his wake. Now he came to find another shoe print smeared all over his sill as well.
Coincidence, hell no.
Naruto crossed his arms, bringing his head up, taking in the starless night. The chilled air came with opulent silence with every step on his creaky floorboards being the only thing that could be heard along with the occasional flutter of frantic moths flying in and out of his room. "I need to make a call." He said calmly.
This had to be investigated, however, he had to be very picky with who he chose to call, he didn't want something like this to be out in the open. With the off chance that this tar black scuff on his window sill was in fact bait laid out by the second Oto spy for Naruto find, then Naruto had to be more than just picky about who he called, he had to, no, needed to be incisive.
It made perfect sense; to lay out bait for the person who took out your partner and to see if he notices it. He to think for a bit, if he let this get out in the open then surely that second spy, whether he was under the guise of Shino or not, would definitely hear about it as well. In doing that, this spy would know whether or not Naruto or any other person in Konoha knew of his existence in the village, but Naruto would not fall for that. He had to keep this man, or woman, thinking that everyone was completely ignorant of their position as an Oto spy.
Even if that meant clandestinely investigating off-grid.
Naruto found himself walking, more like dashing, out of his room, turning to his kitchen, where he found the black new colonial style telephone hanging on the wall. He picked it up, pressing the hardened plastic to his ear. His fingers worked like a machine, rapidly pressing buttons as if it were the last thing that mattered. He did not bother to look at what he was dialing though, but it didn't matter, he knew this number all too well.
His finger hit the last button and he pulled back waiting for the dull calling drone that signaled calling someone. It came, ringing steadily, once, twice, a thrice and like that it ended; a small click replacing it, followed by a small intake of air, directly ensuing that was the familiar sound of a man's voice.
"Hello?" He said.
"Hi," Naruto said quickly, he began without the overture, "I need you to come here quickly, there's something that I think you need to see."
There was a moment where the man didn't answer back; in which Naruto absently began tapping his foot. "Naruto?"
"Yes! It's Naruto, now come over, I've got something pertaining to Mizuki's failed defection and it just might help us find out who the second agent is as well."
A rush of air blew through the receiver end of the phone and Naruto jerked his head back, the dull whisper of a sigh amplified by the static. "Well if you put it that way, then tell me, what do I need?"
"I dunno, all I got here is a shoe print, so...-" He was cut off by a scratchy chuckle.
"Alright," the man replied, "I know what to do."
"Good." Was the final word Naruto gave him before he hung up, placing the phone back on its station with a bell-like "ching".
He needed to calm down, and first off, he was hungry. He hadn't been home, since yesterday's mission. During the afternoon he met his team on their training ground, not surprisingly, Shino was there. He was supposed to be after all, however it seemed as if his sensei and teammate where unaware of his illegal departure from the hospital, although Kurenai kept giving Shino odd glances, as if she sensed that something was off about the boy. All the reason more to suspect him.
They sparred for a while, this time on Kurenai fought against him, almost into the night, But by the time the sun had gone done, Kurenai had sent them home, ending their session with a small lecture on being prepared as ninja and giving them their training schedule for the next couple months. Naruto didn't find it bizarre that their schedule involved a LOT of meditation and genjutsu drills. He didn't mind, genjutsu was fun, and besides training with a virtuoso of the art, such as Kurenai herself, could help him come up with new and ingenious ways of ensnaring people in his traps.
After that they went their separate ways and he found him self at his broken in apartment.
... But more importantly, he found himself at his broken in apartment, and he found himself hungry.
Moving past the phone, he reached out, opening one of the redwood cabinets, and pulled out a plastic covered container of instant ramen. It squeaked as he twisted it with his fingers, uttering out the name of his favorite flavor, "Miso pork ramen, yum."
He unwrapped the shiny styrofoam cup vigorously like a child with their first Christmas present; "just add water", the back label said. He followed the instructions faintly, having done a thousand times...or maybe it was more like a million? He had lost count.
In went the cup, right into the microwave, the back label also said "ready in three minutes", but he knew that was a lie, those idiots didn't know what they were talking about. You had to warm it for at least five. Naruto closed the little black door, watching as the small yellow light coruscated into his eyes and cast a pale yellow glow onto his skin and his already yellow hair. In five minutes his stomach would be full and his hunger would be sated, damn that hunger, the beast.
He stood there, watching the styrofoam rotate, glittering, sparkling, he was was getting hungry just looking at the cup.
Two minutes before the digital timer on the microwave reach zero, there was a knock on the door. He flicked his head at the sound, but he didn't take his gaze off the still spinning cup, the tantalizing aroma proving too much for him to pull away. The knock came again, this time louder, Naruto frowned.
"Alright!" he shouted over his shoulder, breaking away from his prized meal, in order to get to the door. He opened it, swinging the door wildly, and raised an eyebrow but smiled while doing so.
"That's all you brought?"
"Yes, this is all that I'll need."
"Well, I then I'll show you to your crime scene, Mr. Fumina."
He laughed, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Now, Naruto you know I told you to call me Youhei, how would Sanae and Konoe react if you went around acting all formal like that?"
Naruto shrugged at that, probably the same way they would have reacted if he revealed to them everything about himself, shock and petrified.
"Well come on, its in my room," Naruto said leading his friends' father through his apartment and into his room. Youhei, unlike most well known adults in this village actually worked with the Anbu corps. and still found a way to maintain a family, and even more, an entire clan. He was truly amazing, and to be honest, Naruto even venerated him but he'd never let the man hear that, he wouldn't stop hearing of it if he did so. "Someone tried to break into my apartment, earlier today," Naruto said beginning once again with the preamble, "I'm unsure about whether or not this person has done anything to my household, but so far I haven't come upon anything, however you can't never be too cautious." He said eying the man whom he'd considered to be a paragon of intelligence.
"Well said," Youhei said, nodding, "So do you have any ideas about who would want to break into the demon of Konoha's apartment." Normally that would have stung, coming from the lips of one of his most trustworthy friends, but Naruto understood, simply noting that Youhei was simply approaching the situation from the prospective of the person who had broken in. That was one thing that Youhei did that he never liked doing, thinking like someone else; Naruto couldn't stand the notion of thinking any other way besides his current way of processing the outer world, it made him feel like he was getting of off touch with his own mind. Although when it was necessary Naruto did not hesitate to adopt the ways of the enemy in order to crush them. To him his way was perfect for him, but that was probably why Youhei was the head of the Konoha Investigations and Forensic Science Bureau and he was not. And being the head of that division, it was natural for him to know of Naruto's position as a technical Anbu.
After a long pause Naruto nodded, "Actually I do, on my Genin team... my partner."
He raised an eyebrow, "The Hyuuga?"
"No, the Aburame," Naruto responded clearly, his words flavored with a hint hostility.
"But he's in the hospital-" He was cut off.
"Or so he wants everyone to think, I know that's what I thought when I came to visit him and found that he was gone, and left in his place was a small but noticeable mark of the window sill, signaling that he had jumped out," Naruto said pointing to his window, "Kind of like that one right there. Call it a hunch, but I think that this second agent has replaced himself with my teammate, that would explain his odd behavior." Youhei looked on, listening attentively, his super computer mind analyzing each word carefully, inside and out. His sleek bright red hair glowed contrastingly against the white moonlight hitting his clan's trademark. "I mean, you leave the hospital, keeping people thinking that you're still there and then later on in the day the apartment of the person who took Mizuki out is breached, in which both incidents left salutary evidence, which "coincidentally" happen to be of the same nature: a shoe print. That's too suspicious not to be checked out."
Youhei nodded, narrowing his eyes, he didn't speak, he just slipped his hand into his pocket pulling out a small pen like device, with one button on it exactly where it would be on an actual pen. It clicked and almost immediately a small, dark violet light flickered into existence on the side of the pen.
"A black light?"
"Even better," Youhei responded keeping his back to Naruto and his pen carefully poised above the small scuff, "A black light scanner, it works just like a regular black light, except I modified it, using the latest tech in optical character recognition, so not only can this black light illuminate and distinguish anomalies it can also record them. So in theory, this pen... can see." The light from the pen buzzed, growing louder, every time his hand would swipe over the scuff.
Naruto smiled, as expected, he uttered one word: "Ingenious." Or maybe just plain old genius was more fitting, either way the outcome was the same, Youhei was f-ing smart.
"Thank you." He responded.
Naturally, I'd expect that you have enhanced that thing's pattern recognition programs, right?" His answer was a small but perceivable nod from the Fumina clan head.
His hand gently glided over the small mark one final time, making it a bright white until he turned off the pen with an audible click and slipped it back in his pocket, "Done, but it would have been easier if you room didn't let in so much moonlight."
"Hey, what can you do?"
"Nothing much except buy some damn drapes. Anyway, I'll have the guys in the criminalistics sub-division look into the other mark at the hospital and I'll call some guys to investigate you apartment as well. As you said, we don't what this person has done to your place.
Naruto almost twitched, "No! I want this to be strictly esoteric, no one outside from me you and the Hokage should no about this."
"Why?"
"Well, let's say that you do tell your guys to investigate the hospital and my place, as good as the person is, he'll find out about it, therefore he'll know that we're aware of him being here," Naruto paused, staring directly into Youhei's eyes, "And I don't want this person, whoever they are, to know that we all know that he's here. That might just make it harder for us to find him, because he's aware."
Youhei looked away, considering the idea, but then shook his head. "OK, lets say that there's the off chance that this person isn't Shino and that your wrong; we still don't know whether or not he has taken the guise of Shino, however if we make noise about it and investigate your house and the hospital simultaneously, then the spy will realize that he's been compromised."
"Exactly, just as I said, either way, that just proves my point." Naruto countered.
You shook his head, "But, If I'm right and this person is in fact someone who isn't under the guise of Shino then he'll realize that, no, he hasn't been compromised entirely, he'll just know that we suspect other people who might be working with Mizuki."
Naruto cupped his chin with his hand, his eyes then widened in realization. "Therefore, he will be pressed to act quickly!" The blond boy said.
"Exactly, and we can use that against him, his haste will be his downfall. We already know what this person wants: the scroll of sealing, therefore all we have to do is spread the word that someone may have been working with Mizuki, causing him to act quickly and go for the scroll which we will have loosely guarded in order to immure the bastard."
Naruto chuckled, the he went again, thinking like the enemy, no wonder he hadn't thought of that. But then Naruto's opened a bit wider. "Wait, there is a fatal flaw in your plan, if he isn't Shino then he'll know that the break in wasn't caused by him, what if he rules it off as just another random burglary and takes his time trying to get the scroll?"
Youhei smiled and stuck his finger in the air, "Simple, then we've got him in the village for a couple more days, giving us more time to nail him and possibly find out more information about his employer, Orochimaru."
"Then it's settled," Naruto said pumping his fist in the air. "Tomorrow have this apartment investigated...oh and make a lot noise about, make sure it get around the village that the demon of Konoha has gotten robbed by one of Mizuki's accomplices."
"I can do that," Youhei responded thoughtfully, but technically he'd only be making noise where it mattered. Civilians, for one, would have no idea what was going on, just another robbing, but the people that mattered would have to be subject to the story that Youhei would tell them. "Oh Naruto, seeing as how my boy's are going to be over here "investigating", his use of air quotes was amusing, "where will you be sleeping?"
Naruto had to think about that for a second, he'd totally forgotten. But then a twinkle developed in his eyes, "I think I've got a pretty good idea."
Youhei didn't like the way Naruto said that, it seemed all too suspicious. He was planning something... audacious, he was preparing to perform some form of vagary that would, no doubt, leave him with a twitching eye. "Naruto don't create too much a pother." The Fumina said before turning to leave, but not before flashing Naruto a two fingered grin which Naruto cheerfully reciprocated.
"Hai, Hai, I won't, so don't worry, anyway, you'd better be getting, because right now I've got a cold cup of ramen that needs some immediate tending to."
"Yeah, you're right, wouldn't want to keep the family waiting now would I?"
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Dinner was laid out but Konoe sighed at it, wasn't as if it didn't look good. Damn, it was extravagant. at the moment she just wanted to ravish it. Being released from the hospital finally meant that she would have to stop eating the slop they kept serving. It was about time that she had some real food in front of her, something that was actually edible. But sadly, the world wasn't fair and just as she was about to devour her meal, plate and all, she noticed something.
Her father wasn't at the table or even in the house for that matter, and it was right about that moment that she wished she hadn't suggested that they all refrain from eating until everyone was present. Her mother, who stared at her amusingly from across the dining table chuckled at her daughters obvious difficulty in maintaining her self control.
"Having trouble I see, I bet you're really hungry with all that good food staring you in the face." Her mother said teasing. Sanae, who was sitting at her left on the opposite side of the large rectangular table said nothing, that was odd.
Usually Sanae would be the one who stimulated the teasing in the family, but for some reason she seemed... off, ever since they left the hospital. She hadn't even uttered so much as a single word so far.
"Well of course I'm having trouble, I'm hungry!" she said throwing her arms up, "That "food", she said openly using air quotes, "that they gave me at the hospital was worst!"
Her mother rolled her eyes, "Well that's too bad, because until you father gets back, we won't be eating dinner." The table barely budged as Konoe's forehead forcefully slammed into it, a groan coming from where her head lay. "Well, I'm sure that he'll be back pretty soon, if I know him he'll walk through the doorway complaining something about how bad his job is."
Almost as if it were a rehearsed play, her father came in, doing exactly what his mother had predicted for him to do. Bursting through the doorway to their dining room, Youhei rolled his shoulders, an exasperated sigh coming with it. "Whew, I hate my job, it's too much of a hassle. Too many people rely on me," he said, his eyes flicking toward his wife and then onto his two children.
Konoe said nothing, she just inched her eyebrow at mother. Just as she had said, he did walked through the doorway, and he did complain; she found it uncanny how well her mother knew and could predict her father's actions like that. She found it even more uncanny when her father did the same thing to her mother. One would expect something similar to this from a happily married couple and one would also expect to get used to it after a while. But strangely Konoe never got used to it, how could she, they were never wrong about each other.
Weird, yet heartwarming at the same time.
"See I told you he would do that," her mother said cheerfully.
Youhei sighed, "Oh here we go again, are we going to eat or are we going to spend the rest of the night trying to predict each others' actions, because if we are, then tell me ahead of time." He said down next to Konoe, who inched her seat over to give him some room.
"Well," Mei began with a smile, "we be doing this again if you weren't so predictable."
"I'm not predictable!" Youhei said, holding his hand to chest as if her were offended.
"Yes you are." She responded.
"Am not," he turned to Konoe. "Konoe am I predictable?"
As a response she gave him a smile, bringing up two fingers from each hand, her father mirrored her actions and they both flexed twice saying, "Yeeeaaaah" in unison. Their voiced carried a slight hint of sarcasm as they both stretched the word out to enhance the sarcasm.
"Yeah, and another thing, both you and Konoe use air-quotes way too much, especially when you don't agree with something."
"Yeah you do." All heads flicked in one direction, Sanae had actually chosen to say something. "I'm just saying," she smiled when her mother giggled beside her.
Konoe narrowed her eyes playfully, "Well you and Okaasan aren't that much different, we know you just as well you know us."
"Hm, do you now?" Sanae fired back.
"Yeah, we do," Konoe said," Like the way you both cock your heads to the side and go "eh" whenever you don't agree with something."
Both Sanae and Mei gasped lightly, cocking their heads to the side, "Eh, we do not," they both said in unison. Konoe and Youhei smiled, causing both Sanae and her mother to look at each and frown, they then looked back at Konoe and Youhei.
They all broke out in laughter, dinner time was often like this; happy, blissful, Sanae needed something to get her mind off of Naruto and dinner with the family would definitely do the trick.
"Alright, Alright, that's enough, I think that our food's getting cold." Youhei said, placing his hands together in a polite manner, once everyone else followed his lead and did the same, he closed his eyes.
In unison they pronounced one phrase: "Itadakimasu."
With that, the feast began, Konoe wasting no time, her chopsticks almost seemed as if they had been compelled to fly right into her fingers. Noodles flew, rice erupted into the air, and the loud clank of chopsticks and silverware against ceramic plates and bowls were the only thing that could be hear for a while. That is until...
Someone knocked on the door.
"I'll answer it," Mei said, not bothering to make a reach for her own food, excusing herself from the table. She left the kitchen, her footsteps fading away until they stopped completely and the sound of a door swinging open was heard."Oh, Naruto, what brings you here?" She said, her voice growing considerably louder.
Both Sanae and Konoe perked up at this, along with there father. Did she just say Naruto? Youhei mentally slapped himself, he should have known what Naruto was planning when he said he had a "good idea", damn if Youhei had to make an air quote for every time Naruto had a "good idea", then his fingers would probably have fallen off by now. But he had to admit, that was a smart idea for getting a place to stay, in doing this he basically ensured that he had a place to sleep for the night.
Moments later, Mei came walking back in the room, a scowl on her face, Naruto following closely behind, a smile on his face.
"Honey... why didn't you tell me that Naruto had been robbed and had nowhere to stay", she came closer, their faces mere inches away. "And your boys are the ones who are keeping him out of his own house... care to explain." Nervously Youhei looked past his wife, directly at Naruto's face, giving him a look that Naruto knew the exact meaning of. What was Naruto thinking, just showing up out of the blue like that, so much for a good idea. If he wanted to stay over he could have just said so, back at his apartment, but Youhei knew Naruto better than that. Those were not his ways, he was never outright with anything, always the one to want to make an unexpected entrance, that was so like him.
The blond boy sighed, he'd had his twenty seconds of fun. "No, No Mei-san, don't blame him, I told him that I'd have somewhere else to go... but," he looked away convincingly, "that didn't work out so well."
Her blue eyes swiveled over at Naruto, and then back to her husband. "Hm, fine, Naruto are you hungry, we've got more than enough to go around."
Naruto answered with a shake of his head, "No, I already ate before I came here. Right now I just want to go to sleep."
Sanae, immediately sprang up, hitting the table with her knees that resulted in the clamorous clatter of tableware. "I-I'll take you to the guest bedroom!" Sanae stammered out as she shuffled over to Naruto. His arm moved first and then his head, as she pulled him away, walking out of the kitchen to a different part of the manor, where the floorboards didn't squeak and everything was a clean as a bar of soap. He said nothing as he was pulled through a long dimly lit corridor, only staring at the back of her head.
She was frantic about something. They wound up in front of a door, lined in the hallway was row of doors that all looked the same. She swayed her hand, "These are the guest quarters, pick any door you like."
He shrugged, walking ahead, "Sure, hey thanks for let-" he was cut off when he flet Sanae grab him by his wrist, pulling down hard. "But first Naruto, I want you to tell me something, we're alone so you can be honest. Why aren't you telling Konoe about your secret?"
He sighed, not bothering to turn around. "So I take it that you haven't told her anything yet, huh?" He brought his free hand up to scratch his head.
She shook her head, even though she knew that he couldn't see her, "No I haven't, but you're not answering my question why didn't you tell her back in the hospital?" Her hand gripped his wrist tightly. "Was it because of my mom and dad? Huh Naruto, were you scared to say it around my parents?"
Naruto didn't say anything for a while, causing Sanae to give his hand a shake, "Tell me." Her tone was laced with seriousness.
"No, I wasn't scared Sanae, you see, the truth is your parents already know, they've known since the day we met." He felt the pressure leave his wrist as Sanae let go, taking a step back.
"What?"
"Yes, and I promise that Konoe will find out soon enough, you see, I don't want to just tell her. I want her to see, I want her to experience it, much like you did. I don't want a trace of doubt in her eyes when I tell her, I want her to know, fully, just who I am and I'm afraid that I can't do that by simply telling it to her."
"Fine... you do this your way, but I'll give you some time and if I fell like she needs to know then I'm telling her myself." Naruto nodded and she defiantly walked off. One thought swirled in her mind the entire time, her parents knew! Her parents knew! It was a thought that she kept in her mind and a thought that lead her all the way back to the dinner table where she sat down quietly, a neutral expression on her face as she finished the rest of her dinner.
That left Naruto to pick his room. It would be in his best interest to pick a room that he liked as well; due to this little plan that he and Youhei had concocted, he would be out of his house for a long time.
Or at least until this bastard was caught.
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The streets were unusually noisy today, even for Konoha, this was too much clamor. Normally one would expect to hear the usual clamor the filled the streets, kids running around early in the morning, merchants setting up for the day, citizens engaged in badinage, the occasional multi-flutter of a dozen pigeons flapping away. But today, this noise was different, it was on a different level, escalating from noisy to just plain tumultuous.
It didn't take a genius to figure that much out, but fortunately for Shino he was a genius... in his own way, so therefore, he could go the extra mile. He walked, his straight posture distinguishing him from the many hunched over or slouched people who walked and ran past him.
He quirked an eyebrow, that was funny, they all seemed to be heading in the same direction. Perhaps the cause of this early morning disturbance. Putting a spring in his step, Shino increased his pace, breaking into a rather fast stride. It would have looked outre, however, along with the people running past him, his speed walking looked perfectly in place.
Yesterday, he had broken into Naruto's apartment, unfortunately he wasn't as sly as he thought he was and Kurenai discovered him. To put it mildly, Kurenai was perturbed that only after a single day of training Shino was willing to breach his teammates' home, if he remembered correctly she called it "despicable", hopefully his foolish actions hadn't placed him into an odium with his sensei. After a long-winded and VERY tedious lecture given by Kurenai, he was on his way, accompanying his sensei to their training ground where he partook in some light sparring with "HINATA ONLY", as Kurenai-sensei had so gracefully put it.
'So far, Hinata is the only person who is unaware of Naruto's hidden talent, she will have to be informed.' mind then went back to the topic of his not so sneak break-in, Kurenai being the only person who knew about it, and while she promised not to tell a soul, he still couldn't help but get the slightest inkling in the back of his head. For some reason he felt, he didn't know how, he just felt that Kurenai-sensei wasn't the only person who knew about the breaching.
But just as he had turned the corner, following the crowd, he felt the need to hold his breath. He had come up the realization that his inkling was correct, and he finally figured out where this crowd was actually heading to... and it made him nervous.
Walking with the flow of pedestrian traffic, his head inclined until he came to a stop, right where a clustered ring of people stood, making a semi circle in front of...
Naruto's apartment. He felt the heated tickle of sweat roll down his nose as his quick stride hastened into a light jog. Not good, they knew, but more importantly, Naruto knew!
Several shinobi stood guard at the front of the apartment, sustaining what little balance a crime scene was allotted to have. Most likely, there were more of them inside. He could see all of the guards faces clearly, at least those on the outside, but he had no time to stare, he needed to be somewhere else but just as he was about to take to the rooftops he did a double-take.
Did he just see... no it couldn't be. He shook his head and his legs shot forth, launching him into the sky. It might have been his imagination but he thought he had just seen, the head of the Konoha investigations bureau, Fumina Youhei, but what would he be doing here, present at the scene of such a low key crime? And maybe he was imagining this too but... was he staring at him?
He landed on the roof and immediately sprang off in the direction of his next destination, the training grounds.
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"He's late," Naruto said leaning against a tree.
"A-ano, maybe he's still at home." Hinata said staring down at her twiddling thumbs.
"Maybe..." Naruto responded, 'Or maybe he's tied up in a closet while his doppelganger is out trying to secure the scroll of sealing." He made sure to keep that last sentence to himself. Kurenai turned, looking at him with a smile.
"Well you're in a bad mood today, was it because of what happened yesterday?" She asked.
"I guess, so," he responded, "I still can't believe that someone tried to rob me." He said, donning on a mask of obliviousness, as if he didn't know who it was that broke in. In fact Naruto was aware that it was in fact Shino who was inside his apartment. He'd stopped by his apartment to get an update from Youhei; forensics told Naruto that the scuff from the hospital matched the scuff from his apartment. Not a single difference in the two marks, a perfect match.
And now Naruto was certain that Shino had been in his house. Although he had no clue as to whether or not it was the real Shino and not the second Oto agent, but he had to think about that. The odds of the real Shino breaking into his home were slim to none, most likely "Shino" was the second agent in disguise.
Kurenai turned back around, it appeared that Shino still hadn't told Naruto. She really hoped that he would, lest their camaraderie be diminished if he didn't.
"A-ano, I also h-heard about-... w-what happened t-to you." The look Naruto gave her when she spoke made her look away, perhaps she had said too much. The last t-thing that she wanted was for Naruto to think that she was inconsiderate. "S-sorry about that."
"Thanks, but its not your fault some bastard decided to break into my house."
She only nodded at his response and looked away allowing some silence to settle in.
"Well we had better begin soon," Kurenai's voice broke through the silence. She extended one hand and pointed out into the distance. "Because the last member of our team has arrived."
True to her word, Shino could be seen walking slowly toward in the distance, his hands jammed into the over-sized pockets of his gray jacket. He seemed to be walking... rather slowly, as if he were perturbed by something. Walking up to them, the Aburame threw one hesitant hand up.
"I apologize for my tardiness, I hope I haven't caused you all any form irritation."
"Not at all," Kurenai said, "well at least not Naruto." She said adding an extra hint of something with the mention of his blond teammate's name. Behind his black specs, his eyes narrowed, he could see what she was trying to do.
He turned to Naruto, "I apologize for your annoyance," he said bowing curtly to the boy.
"That's fine." This certainly didn't seem like a fake Shino, maybe this was the real Shino. Or maybe this was just a no good shinobi with amazing acting skills. Shino kept his head down, couldn't believe that he was about to say this...
"I am also sorry for what happened," he continued not moving a muscle. That caused Naruto raise an eyebrow.
"What do you-"
Shino cut him off, "Your home, I heard that someone had broken into it." Naruto breathed in sharply, what was that supposed to mean? He was the one who broke in in the first place. He was vaguely aware that his fist had curled up into a fist. He frowned, gritting his teeth, here he was staring at the back of the head of person that he knew had broken in. The entire purpose of the plan he and Youhei had made was to ferret out the second Oto agent and get him to divulge his identity, as of now there was only one suspect as to who he might be pretending to be, and that was Shino.
Certainly this plan would run a lot smoother if he narrowed down and eliminated some of the possible outcomes, right? Naruto didn't think about it, he just acted, his actions guided by a sense of obligation and a little bit of anger. Smoothly, accompanied with the sound of his shoe sliding against the dirt, Naruto's foot shot upward and smashed into Shino's face.
The boy wrenched up, his chin pointing toward the sky until he fell to the ground on his back, his glasses quickly landing a few feet from his head. Shino had no time to react, all he saw was a flash of black and orange and the next thing he knew his eyes were unprotected, exposed to the annoying glare of the sun.
"Naruto, what's wrong with you?" Kurenai shouted angrily, she moved grab him by the ear but her hand stopped halfway when she was suddenly hit by an unexpected wave of killing intent. It wasn't enough to paralyze, just enough to startle. But even so, his Ki was unusually potent.
Hinata, simply gasped, her mouth agape; she hadn't even seen what happened. His movements were so quick, no too quick, all she was a slight hint of movement and Shino went flying. Why would he do that, she couldn't believe it, Naruto hit him! Her mind search, more like raced for a conclusion, anything at all would do. Anything that was good enough to logically explain why Naruto just plowed his foot into Shino's face!
"N-naruto w-why did-" She was cut off when the raised his hand promptly silencing her. It was funny at that moment, Naruto felt a bit like the Hokage, but that wasn't the point, the point was that Shino was now vulnerable. Whether or not it was the real Shino, he had still broken into his apartment, and Naruto wanted to now why.
Shino groaned, his eyes barely open, the throbbing pain in his head shot down toward his body, just like when Naruto had kicked him before. He grunted when Naruto dropped down onto his stomach, he released a spray saliva from his mouth. The bile tasted foul and bitter.
"Shino, answer me now! Don't ask, just answer. My house was recently, broken into, do you know anything about it?" Kurenai raised an eye brow, what was he asking? Did he know? She couldn't say that she was surprised though, with the level of skill that he possessed she had no doubt that the boy had connections as well, and those connections would have no problem in tracking down someone who broke into his apartment. But did he have to go and exacerbate the situation; in her opinion a kick to the head like that was pejorative and just outright unnecessary. What Shino had done was wrong and it was obvious that Naruto was perturbed about, however, that still did not deem it okay to go and do something like this. After all, Shino was still her student and she couldn't stand here and let this happen.
She released a strong wave of Ki, and for a second it matched Naruto's swirling with and crashing into it like the waves at sea. Naruto turned his head, apparently she had gotten his attention. "Kurenai-sensei please stay out of this!"
"No Naruto, I can't do that, you are both my students and as your sensei I will NOT except this type of behavior." She flicked her gaze over to Shino, his head was probably still a messy haze from that kick, even so, "Shino, go ahead, tell him what you know."
After a long series of groans Shino finally said, "I-I do know something." Naruto turned his head back to Shino.
"As I thought!" he spat, "I already know that you are the one who did it but I want hear from you; are you the one who broke into my apartment?" He grabbed Shino by the collar, shaking him twice.
Weakly, the spec-less boy answered back with a weak... "Yes I was, please forgive me for my intrusion." Naruto narrowed his eyes, he was right, the second spy was Shino and he could now clearly aver that this boy was not Shino. "I-I just wanted to find-" He was cut off when Naruto slammed him yet again into the ground, this time with more force. Shino didn't know why, but under the heart stopping gaze that Naruto was giving him, he felt... something. A grip of some paralyzing, emotion; he didn't want to speak, he didn't want to move, hell at the moment Shino was afraid that if he even breath too loudly Naruto would kill him. Wait, he was afraid; he was scared! Shino's breathing quickened as he came upon the realization as to what he was feeling....
Dread. Fear in its most potent form, all he could do was sit there in fear thinking that this was what an Anbu's pressure felt like. Thick, smothering, overwhelming.
"What did you want to find?" Naruto asked, his voice going down calmly.
Shino said nothing.
"Go ahead, tell him, tell him what you told me." Kurenai said from behind them, this cause Naruto to turn his head with a sharp twist, "You knew about this!"
He turned back when he felt Shino's hand on his shoulder, the boy's hand tense yet still shaking. "I-I know who you are, who you truly are...Naruto Uzumaki, Anbu Shinobi of Konoha."
Naruto's eyes widened, how did Shino know that? That confirmed it, this wasn't Shino. The pointy tip of a gleaming kunai made its way toward Shino's throat, stopping just a few inches away. "And how is it that you know that... answer me this, are you the real Shino? Choose your words wisely, because depending on you answer, I may just have to kill you."
Shino raised an eyebrow, "I-... I am, Shino," the tip of the kunai inched forward, " I am... P-please trust my word."
"Then explain how you know of my existence as an Anbu," he said pressing the blade so that it made contact with skin. Underneath him he could feel Shino's reflexive flinch.
Shino glanced at Kurenai, his black eyes staring at her asking for guidance, but sadly he found none, just the impassive glare of her red irises. Strangely, but it seemed as if she knew what was going on. Instinctively his eyes flicked back to Naruto when he felt the kunai press an centimeter forward and coming with it the a drop of liquid too warm to be sweat.
"Because... in the hospital... when you and Kurenai sensei were speaking... I-I was awake, and I-I h-heard everything." Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Prove to me that you're Shino Aburame." His request was later answered by a small line of bugs crawling their way from under Shino's collar.
The boy was telling the truth. No matter how well prepared an enemy may be to disguise themselves as another, there were certain things that just could not be copied. For example, certain doujutsu and clan traits, fortunately for Shino his family's unexplained self-nursing of insects counted as one of these things. And if this was in fact the second Oto nin, then he should not have been able to summon his insects , especially in such a proper manner, insects walking in a perfect line, not natural.
It brought his mind to one conclusion, that Shino was in fact who he claimed to be, but that still did no explain why he left the hospital unannounced or broke into his apartment for that matter. Well now was a good as time as ever to find out.
"Alright, I believe you, but tell one thing, why did you leave the hospital without checking out?"
Shino quirked an eyebrow, "The window was much faster method of departure; I suppose my logic was flawed."
"And my house?"
"I was attempting to secure any scrolls or sort of personal agenda that would help me understand how you had acquired your strength," he hadn't noticed it but Naruto had retracted his Ki, finally giving him the ability to speak in clear orotund sentences.
Naruto rose, allowing Shino to stagger back to his feet. He turned his head to the left, he wouldn't show it but he was dumbfounded at the moment. How could this have happened, he was bamboozled by a mere string of coincidences and simple thought, to put it in simple terms, he over-thought all that was going around him, things weren't as concealed as he had perceived them to be.
There was no second Shino, the Oto nin never entered his home; the entire reason for him and Youhei was lure out the double agent, whom he had already thought was Shino. That turned out well for him, and as of now there was an entire squad of investigators searching through his home and Shino's hospital room possibly for no reason at all!
That wasn't good, in future, he would have to make sure never to follow any of his hunches without the sufficient, nay, ample points evidence.
"Naruto-... what did you mean when you asked whether or not I was the real Shino, is there any reason to suspect that I am not Aburame Shino?" Naruto's head snapped back, his eye finding the now stable Aburame next to him.
"That's classified." Naruto responded instantly, there was no reason in getting them even further involved.
"Is this about the Oto agent incident?" Kurenai asked.
"You know?" Well she was a Jonin after all.
"Well I am a Jonin after all," she said. Exactly his point
"Yeah, it is, and I've just gotten myself some valuable information." Naruto said, "That being the case, I would like to ask of your permission to leave."
Kurenai threw up a hand, waving it loosely, "Well you're the Anbu." Naruto nodded before making a hand sign, his body then slowly faded away before he teams' eyes.
Kurenai turned to both her students, Shino and Hinata were positioned so that she had turned her head whenever she wished to look at them. Shino, his face devoid of any eye-wear, looked at her attentively and Hinata, well, the girl hadn't moved as much as an inch, her back seemingly glued to the back of the tree. She had almost forgotten that Hinata was there, well, almost. Honestly the girl was too taciturn for a her own good, and Kurenai had no doubt that anyone besides her on team eight would be willing to start a conversation with Naruto after what just happened. Hinata already with her shyness wouldn't so much as say a word Shino was just... Shino, she had the strange feeling that Naruto had just made this team a very silent team at the most.
Oh great. "Shino, Hinata... I want you to tell not a soul of what you heard."
"A-ano, s-sensei, is that true, is Naruto really A-anbu?" She couldn't believe it, her crush was this type of person. She definitely had no chance with him now.
Kurenai, nodded, "Yes Hinata, that was Naruto... that was the real Naruto."
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For some reason the Jonin loved spending large amounts of time together, which was fine with these two, so that meant that they were training nearby each other. So starting today, they both began walking together about as far as they could toward their sessions until they had to part their separate ways and walk toward their own training grounds. Starting from today they were official ninja meaning that they were now recognized by the village and that meant that they had to act maturely, no more fighting or arguing for them over the precious... and handsome... Sasuke-kun. They needed to get their friendship in order before anything else, therefore they were going to do this as a way to restore the relationship back to its previous level.
No hard feelings between the two.
OK, maybe one was just a little, only a little, bit jealous of the other, after all Sakura was on Sasuke's team, and Ino wasn't. And for the young Yamanaka girl, that sucked. She couldn't help it if she felt jealous, that was why she even proposed that they started this everyday ritual; so that Sakura wouldn't sense that she was jealous of her, after all who wants to be near person that they're jealous of.
But actually, she was enjoying this.
"Hey, guess what, Asuma-sensei said that he was going to help me build up my taijutsu skills!" Ino said with barely restrained enthusiasm as she pumped her fist forcefully at the air, knocking down imaginary foes.
"Really, our sensei... uh, he looks kind of boring."
"Who is he?" Ino asked, still pumping.
"Um... Hatake Kakashi..." Sakura replied lamely.
For a second Ino said nothing, then, "Who?"
"Exactly, I don't know anything about him, except that he likes those weird Icha Icha novels."
"Eww, that's gross," Ino suddenly said dropping her hands.
"What is there something wrong with them?"
"Uh... never mind."
The two of them walked down the street, this used to be the street they raced down. It was funny how things change, in an instant they had agreed to a truce. Which would most likely end whenever one of them had managed to score a date with Sasuke.
"What about you teammates, how are they...and don't talk about Sasuke, I already know about him."
Sakura looked up, oh yeah, Ino was so jealous right now, that was exactly what she wanted though. It was about time that Ino got a taste of what was always meant to be. Despite that, she was actually enjoying this.
"Well... Kiba is kind of... wild. He's loud and boisterous, but I guess he's not too bad, I mean he does have a lot, and I do mean a lot of annoying traits but once you look past that he's not so bad. He's actually sort of like a dog, treat him right and he'll bend to your will."
Ino quirked an eyebrow. "You learned that after two training sessions."
Sakura nodded, "Well, yeah he's just like any other boy, well, with the obvious exception of Sasuke-kun," Sakura then brought her hands up in a giddy little display of flailing fingers. "Sasuke-kun..." she said dreamily, but was soon brought back when Ino growled. "Oh my bad, what about your guys?" Yeah, get jealous.
At the mention of her two teammates, Ino said one word, "Hopeless," and that's all she was willing to say.
"You know I've been thinking, what about the other team, I wonder how they're doing?" Sakura said, noticing a big crowd of people, rushing ahead of them.
"Oh you mean, the other team... with Naruto and Hinata and that weird Aburame kid?"
"Yeah that one."
"I'd rather not think about it." Ino replied.
"Why?"
"Because that freak Shino suddenly popped down in front of me yesterday and just looked at me, you know, with those weird tinted glasses."
"Do you know why he did it?" Sakura asked.
"No, he just showed up and growled at me, he was all like, "You are not Naruto," and walked away." Her voice took on a sudden monotone as she imitated Shino's usually neutral voice. She suppressed a shudder when she remembered the angry buzz that came with the odd boy's growl. Never again would she even attempt to talk to him. "But before he hopped away I told him off, the jerk. I don't know what he was doing but apparently Naruto certainly had something to do with it."
"And speaking of Naruto," Sakura began, espying a large group of people clustered together in a tumultuous gathering, in the middle of them stood several Shinobi guards attempting to mollify the crowd and tame their growing curiosity. "Isn't that where he lives?" Sakura asked, pointing a finger toward the gathering of people.
"How should I know? How about we find out." Both girls nodded, a little detour before training never hurt anyone.
They ran up to the crowd and slipped through, first Sakura went, then Ino. The Yamanaka girl could barely keep track of her friend in the chaos, if not for the bright flashes of pink hair between bodies, Ino would have surely lost herself in the crowd. Finally they slipped through, somehow managing to poke their head out through mass of people, they were roughly near each other, Ino being a couple of bodies away from Sakura.
"What do you think this is?" Sakura yelled over to Ino, her voice partially drowned out by the crowd.
"Dunno, looks like a crime scene," Ino shouted back. Well that was obvious Ino-pig, she meant what type of crime scene. But as she attempted to move further out past the crowd, a blur of blue and black dropped down in the middle of the semi-circle, startling a lot of the villagers. Most of them had backed away, for some reason, leaving both Ino and Sakura out in the open. She blinked rapidly at her blond friend before looking back at the person in front of her.
"Oh my...-"
"-... Kami," she could hear Ino finish off for her.
"Naruto?" Standing in front of her was the robust, chiseled form of Naruto Uzumaki, his muscles bulging out through his tight, new clothing, which in her opinion was a step up from that dainty old jumpsuit that he used to wear. But no wonder he used to where that thing, most likely it was because he didn't want to be bothered with so many fan girls. Her mind went back to that day when she and a mass of other females chased him and Sasuke around. Naruto got a decent amount of fan girls but his number would have increased exponentially if he had been wearing this attire the entire time.
Ino remembered how Naruto looked before, when he walked into class. She noticed then but also but for some reason she had the uncontrollable urge to say it again.
'Damn, he's hot,' well in her mind anyway, but he was still not as cool looking as Sasuke. But she had to admit, she thought he looked stupid in that orange jumpsuit, but now in this new outfit, he actually made orange work.
'Damn... he's hot, ah dammit Ino! Get that out of your mind, Sasuke is the only one for you!' She shut her eyes shaking her head back and forth to fight down the formidable urge to ogle at his effulgent bod. 'I can't look, I won't look... but....' she opened her eyes.
"Damn, you're hot," Ino said dreamily, letting those last thoughts slip out before she quickly gasped and covered her mouth blinking rapidly and switching her gaze from Sakura and Naruto. She hoped that Sakura hadn't heard that but the look on her pink-haired friends face old her otherwise.
What was that, did Ino actually say that? Oh she wouldn't hear the end of this, neither would the other Sasuke fan club girls.
Naruto switched his gaze onto Ino, picking up that last sentence. She shrunk under his stare, gasping before looking at the ground, attempting to hide the blush she thought Naruto hadn't caught a glimpse of. He looked out in the crowed, glares all around as he had expected, but there was something else.
Stares. Apparently those of the civilian girls who were around his age and watching as he dropped down had been staring at him the entire time. The air filled with murmurs and giggles and spread throughout like a wildfire. He then glanced at Sakura, her eyes glued to his.... chest....
Time for some fun. He brought his eyes back at Ino, the blond toed the ground girlishly, he would have said that she looked cute but surprisingly, blonds were not his type. Go figure. Even so, it would do him some good entertainment to do this.
'Let's see how faithful you are to Sasuke ,' he thought as he bent down forward by his waist. "What did you say?" He said, sounding rather confused.
Her head, instantly popped up, it was on fire, a massive blush as she looked right at him. "I-..Uh, um, I ju-... said, t-th....," she looked off to the side, ending her bit of incoherent babble and gave up, "N-nothing, I said nothing." Naruto then smiled, his eyes glancing back at Sakura and then to the girls in the crowd and then back to Ino.
His hand shot forth, two fingers smoothly sliding up her neck until they stopped at the tip of her chin, He guided her face back to his, leaving about a inch between their noses. He gave her moment, he let her take it all in. He could hear, no, with his two fingers he could feel her breathing, growing faster as the seconds past that he held her; she let out a small whimper at his touch.
And then, slowly, he allowed his face to slide past hers and his mouth came ever so close to her ear.
"You know," he began sensually, "I like blonds Ino, especially pretty ones." Ino's eyes widened as did Sakura's and every other girls' their age, the sudden outburst of giggles was enough to startle Ino.
He liked blonds? Ino then quickly glanced upward at her hair, her eyes flicking up and then down in less than a second.
'W-well, I am blond,' she thought to herself before Naruto pulled back and gave her a wink before letting his fingers drop from her chin. "I'll see you later." He said before he smoothly turned around, his hands in his pockets as the sounds of giggles were then replaced by dreamy sighs hitting his ears from behind him.
Oh yeah, he could be a womanizer when he wanted to. Of course that meant nothing to him, he just wanted to see if he would have any affect on one of Sasuke's fan girls, and apparently he did. Too bad though, if she ever tried to approach him, thinking that he actually liked her, he would have to brutally impugn her thoughts and shut her down. Man, he just set the girl up for disappointment didn't he?
...Oh well.
Walking past the guard, Naruto kept his head low and whispered to the man, "I'm going in to see Youhei, don't let anyone inside, not even Shinobi. He didn't even stop walking as he uttered his words.
Ino, who was still in her state of permanent blush just touched the spot where Naruto head touched her. He said that he liked blonds, especially the pretty ones, that meant he thought she was pretty, right? Sasuke had never said anything like that to her. She snapped back to reality when Sakura hit her on the arm, she blinked rapidly, "Huh... wha- what?" She glanced back at Naruto, seeing his back disappear behind a closing door.
"What just happened?"
"I-I don't know." Ino replied, her eyes still glued to the now closed door.
"Hm, what's this... did you like it?"
She blinked, hard and turned her head violently at her "friend". "No, I-I was just caught off guard, that's all!"
Sakura giggled, "You liked it, admit it. But I don't blame you, he is hot, and I might have actually liked that myself, well I might have."
Ino narrowed her eyes, "Sakura you would have fallen in love with him right there."
"As if."
"W-whatever, Forehead, let's just get to training, I don't need to be here anymore."
"Whatever, Ino-pig." Ino ignored that last comment, choosing not to take the bait. Her mind was set one thing and one thing only....
She had just been turned on by Uzumaki Naruto.
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Clank Clank
The bright flash of two kunai colliding with each other in mid air, produced a metallic crash that echoed throughout the clearing until it rose in frequency until it became so high that one could not hear it. The sound of metal clashing with metal, almost as soothing as metal crashing into skin.
Music to Anko's ears; she sat low, her calves positioned so that she was sitting on them. In her hand a partially finished dango skewer, two colored dumplings, on red and one white, the white on top and half eaten, indicating where Anko had bitten it. Next to her on the grass was a green box where two more skewers were waiting to be devoured.
Oh how she loved dango, sweet and tender, the food of the gods or in her case the goddesses.
Two more bursts of metallic sound brought a smile to her face and she glanced up to see her two pupils, interlocked in competitive combat, locked in the middle of the verdant grassy expanse. Unfortunately, she wasn't allowed to bring them back to the forest of death, so this was good enough. taijutsu training in a wide open plain was boring though, it added no excitement and due to the excessive lack of trees there certainly was no cover.
Although it was fun to see the two of them go at it.
Sanae was first to break away from the interlocking of blades, pushing upward with her own kunai; the sound produce a loud scrap of metal. The sudden divergence of blades left both girls with their hands in the air, kunai rising higher than their hands as both girls involuntarily let go of their weapons.
Anko narrowed her eyes, who would be first to react. Her eyes then widened a little, it was Konoe. Almost immediately after both girls were sent leaning back Konoe dropped down and twirled while extending her leg, her hair auburn hair twirling closely behind her as she made to trip her sister.
It proved only to be of limited usefulness as Sanae made one quick upward motion, a light hop barely evading the length of her leg, but that motion was too light as just as she was reaching the full height of her hop Konoe's leg made contact. It only brief, just a light brushing, but it was enough to lean her slightly to the right.
Sanae landed on her shoulder with a silent thud. Dammit, first they had to fight Anko-sensei, now they had to fight each other. Apparently Anko had said that they relied too much on tactic and their taijutsu was lacking, therefore that was where they would begin immediately. Although one couldn't blame her or her sister for relying on tactics and strategy, it was in their blood.
In one smooth, complete motion Konoe planted her leg on the ground, using her the momentum to carry her along as her second leg instantly shot forth, heading for her face.
'Dammit!' she thought to herself, but then an idea came into her head, this was a simple kick and it was easy to dodge something like this.
'With her foot coming at me at that speed it should reach in about...," everything seemingly moved slower, her eyes carefully analyzing everything about the foot. Speed, acceleration, the estimated weight of her leg, how much wind resistance her clothing would produce; in that split second Sanae took everything and formulated a counter action.
'If I move back...' She leaned back to a bit calculating the distance of her kick. Then everything quadrupled in speed as the world around her returned to normal time and like she predicted it would, the tip of Konoe's foot sail harmlessly over her nose, just missing it by two centimeters.
In the distance she could hear Anko yell out, "Ooooh, nice kick Konoe-chan!" But her jovial grin was replaced by an amused expression when Sanae stuck her hand out, grabbing hold of her sisters leg.
"Wha-... waaaahh!" Konoe yelled out as Sanae twisted her ankle and she toppled over from the sharp pain and the lack of balance. Shifting into a more comfortable position, Sanae wrapped both her legs around Konoe's leg and applied pressure, pushing her kneecap in.
Her sister yelled out. "Ow... ow ow, it hurts!" She twisted, attempting to free herself from her sisters impressively painful leg lock.
"I bet it hurts!"
"Yeah...oh, ow! Let go!"
"Tap out!" Sanae yelled, looking her sisters face. She could hear and see their sensei's shouts of encouragement from the background, her hands pumping up and down, it seemed that she thought she really was watching the television.
"Tap!" Sanae yelled out once more.
"No way...ahh!" That was about all Konoe could do, just defy the inevitable and take pain, her sisters leg locks really hurt. And what was even worse about it was that she was lying on her kunai and shuriken holsters....
Ouch.
Then Sanae gave one final, violent jerk, twisting her ankle dangerously hard. It sent a jolt of pain throughout her leg and Konoe yelled out.
"Ow... okay okay, I give, I give... just let go!" her hand beat rapidly against the grass producing nothing more than a small rustle.
"Ha! I win... hey Anko-sensei, I-" She stopped when the slight rustle of grass told her that Anko was behind her. The pointy tip of a dango skewer poked her shoulder, "Ow, what was that for."
The adult kunoichi clad in a brownish grey trench coat crossed her arms, pushing up a portion of her ample bosom. "If I'm correct I said we were going to simulate what a taijutsu only battle would be like, and by simulate I mean imitate the actual battle as it would be in the actual field."
"Yeah, so?" Sanae and Konoe said in unison, both of them quirking an eyebrow.
Anko knelt down, bringing her face closer to Sanae's, her hand resting on the girl's shoulder. She looked at her sensei's hand carefully before returning to her face. "So, do you think that in the actual field your enemy would just give up like that," Sanae shook her head, "No right? Then what do you think would have happened in the real field?"
"Um, I would have broken her leg?"
Anko nodded.
"W-wait... so you want us to actually hurt each other?"
She look away for a bit, one hand guiding the end of the dango skewer through her around her teeth, the other hand fingering her spiky ponytail. Her eyes were half lidded. "Well if you put it that way... than yeah." She then looked back at her two students a fresh smile on her face.
Was she mental?
She then began giggling, ensnaring the thin piece of between her teeth and lips.
Was she mental?
"Now... the both of you... do it again, we are going to be focusing on your taijutsu, and we're going to do it realistically. And do you know what that means?"
They shook their heads.
"It means that your going to be fighting for real this time, and that means blood."
Sanae paled, as did her sister.
"Now, get back to fighting... and the first one to draw blood or make a simulated killing blow wins." She saw that her two students were silent. Man, they were big babies, afraid of making each other bleed? Soft, well she would have to be the one to toughen them up. "My methods are a bit extreme, but trust me you will benefit from them." Actually, her methods were a bit insane but they didn't need to know that.
Anko turning her head was the only indication that someone else had approached them. Following there sensei's eyes, Sanae and and Konoe saw a man, an Anbu specifically. His snow white dog mask, glistening in the sun, he wore a long dusty cloak, obscuring the standard issue Anbu uniform that Anko just knew he was wearing.
In the distance he could be faintly seen, as if his body were constantly fazing in and out of reality. That was what he was, unreal, the sight of a lone Anbu standing far away, merely observing, captivating while unsettling at the same time.
Naruto came to mind, in a little while this was what Naruto would look like. It was too bad that Konoe hadn't found this out yet.
The seemingly magical Anbu member extended his hand, slipping it slowly through his cloak and brought forth one fey finger. It bent ever so slightly in his direction and Sanae instantly felt the need to do what he said, but Anko rested a hand on her shoulder yet again.
"Sanae... I need to be somewhere right now, you two continue on here and go home whenever you feel like. Remember the first to land a killing blow or draw a sufficient amount of blood wins." Her words came as nothing but s small whisper.
With that Anko calmly walked over to the Anbu. "You called?" She asked, her composure not even affected by his chimerical aura.
"Yes," he said letting the wind blow for a couple of seconds, "Mitarashi Anko, the Hokage has requested your presence."
"Well, can't that wait, I'm kind of in the middle of something as you can see." She said jerking her thumb behind her at her two students who hadn't moved out of their interlocked position.
He stood silent for a moment, still, emotionless, like a living statue that refused to budge. The only thing moving with his cloak and the small tufts of white hair on the back of his head.
"No, I'm afraid that cannot be done, you are needed now. Please if you will, dismiss your students."
Anko eyed him, this guy had no energy, he was just a bunch of monotone and punctuality. He was probably new, the guy really needed to lighten up.
"Actually, they're going to stay here and train, we can just go." He nodded. Anko placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hey are you new on the Anbu force?"
For a moment, he didn't reply but then he nodded saying, "Yes, you could say that." She quirked an eyebrow.
What was that supposed to mean?
But then he pointed behind her, "Excuse me but you said your students were here to train... so is there any reason why they are sleeping at the moment. Anko's eyes widened as she spun around, astonished to see that her two students were indeed fast asleep, they had not even moved an inch, they were just both asleep, Sanae still gripping her sisters leg as if it were intricately decorated plush doll designed to keep her safe at night.
Anger boiled up in her insides as she turned and began walking toward her students but stopped, her foot poised off the ground as she froze mid-stride and she was hit by a wave of something. Whatever it was... it was making her tired. This emollient ebbing its way into her mind, her eyes widened as much as they could as she realized what was going on.
"Wha-... wha- a genjustu..." she muttered wearily as she attempted to bring her hands together to form the necessary seal and dispel this somnolent sensation, but she soon found herself unable to move her hands, her vision had already begun to go white. Damn, this genjutsu was surprisingly fast acting.
Through the snow-like haze, she felt a hand on her left shoulder, no doubt the hand of that underhanded snake in the grass pretending to be an Anbu member. The next thing she heard was stark laughter, it was a dry laugh and it seemed somehow familiar like she had heard someone else laugh like that, however, Anko was not willing to try and remember that person. She feared that her body wouldn't be able to take it.
"Won't you help me Anko-chan." The man said.
She dropped to her knees, her body waving back and forth as she tried to fight the temptation of sleep. Above her she could barely see the fluffy silhouettes of minuscule flake-like particles. Snow? Through narrowed eyes she confirmed that it wasn't snow. It was in fact as if an entire flock, nay, colony of snow white doves had flown overhead at that instant, all of them choosing that time to molt, and with every flap, raining down a slowly descending blanket of pure feathers onto the ground.
"It's raining... feathers?" She managed to whimper out as she was overtaken by the white haven and pelt of feathers, following that was the muffled thump of her body hitting the ground. Then her mind was carried off into a world of white and... no wait that was it, just white. (I wonder how many of you thought of saying white an black)
Damn, this guy was no Anbu. One thing had made itself apparent as she slowly slipped away...
She had found the second Oto agent, well, actually he found her.... and more importantly, she hadn't finished the rest of her dango.
Oh no....
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Okay I'm done, and before anyone asks, no that little thing with Ino meant NOTHING, just a little fun that I decided to have. I hope you all enjoyed that portion of the story... because it will never happen again. Do all know why, well if you don't I shall tell you. It is because, from this point on, I am going to begin developing the relationship with Hinata and our womanizing friend Naruto.
Now that does not mean that I am picking Hinata right away, it is just a method to get you guys to see which one you want. You've already seen the relationship between Naruto and both Fumina sisters, and now you will BEGIN to see the relation form between him and Hinata. Tell me which one you think is better and then I'll see what I can do about that. And I can do a whole lot.
And I hope you guys can guess who the person that knocked Anko out is, I left really subtle, really deliberate clues. One of the clues is actually not that subtle, it should be a giveaway, overall it should be pretty easy for you to figure out who it was, especially with the little analogy I threw in there, that one was a really big hint.
Anyway, I shall not delay you any further from reading any other stories that you may want to read, but before you go, please make sure that you leave a review, short long, it really does not matter to me. A review is a review. Any, have a nice summer and...
Until next time
Thanx Latr
Next Chapter: Apex of all Conversations
GrIm'S sTePpIn' OuT